Lessons learned about Golf and Life. Stories and suggestions on how to improve and better enjoy the great game of golf.

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Wednesday, 12 April 2017

Starting a New Season

For many of us living in northern climes, the golf season is just starting. That being the case, I thought it would be a good idea to review some of the information from Bobby Jones that just might help me get off to a good start this year.

Many golfers set goals for themselves at the start of a new season. And sports psychologists certainly recommend doing so. But the first thing we need to decide, according to Bobby Jones, is what sort of golfer we are. I'll let him explain from his book Bobby Jones on Golf. The Master wrote:

"It seems to me that there are two reasonable ways in which a man may take his golf. If he has the time and inclination to do so, he may set out to give the game a proper amount of serious study and effort, with a view towards elevating himself beyond the average-golfer class; or, if he has only a very limited amount of free time, as many have, he may be content to knock around with his regular companions who play about as he does, in search of a little fun. But it will not do to mix the two, especially to hang the ambitions of the first man upon the labors of the latter."

I think this is excellent advice. I think it's safe to say that there isn't a golfer around who doesn't want to play better. But we have to be realistic. Generally speaking, serious and lasting improvement in this game doesn't come without time and effort. If we don't have much time, and/or we aren't prepared to do some hard work, we should be content with our usual game.

But, regardless of our ambitions, we do want to enjoy our time on the links. So again, Bobby supplies some rules we should follow in order to get maximum enjoyment from our game. He wrote:

"When we come to the all-important matter of getting real enjoyment out of playing the game, I think we will find that all must employ the same set of rules. To find enjoyment, we must produce a round fairly close to our usual standard. To do this with a fair degree of consistency, no matter to which class (of golfer) we belong, we must avoid experiment, refuse to try anything new, and play the game instead of practicing it.

The best piece of advice I could give any man starting out for a round of golf would be 'take your time,' not in studying the ground, and lining up the shot, but in swinging the club. Strive for smoothness, strive for rhythm; but unless you are something of an expert, save 'monkeying' with your hip turn, your wrist action, and the like, until you can get on a practice tee where you can miss a shot without having to play the next one out of a bunker."

I think this is excellent advice that I will endeavour to follow as I start a new season, and as I start every round. If I could only resist "monkeying" with my swing, and remember to take my time swinging the club every time I tee it up, I know that alone would have me playing better golf.

In my next article I'll provide some more excellent advice from Bobby Jones on how to improve without making any swing changes, or practising more.

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About Me

I've loved and played golf for fifty years. During that time, I've tried to make a study of the greats and have read just about everything I could get my hands on about the game. I've reached the conclusion that golf is a simple game that we manage to make extremely complicated by an over-emphasis on the mechanics of the swing, rather than the art of playing the game. Golf is essentially a game played in five inches, the approximate distance between your ears. It is about getting the ball from the teeing ground into the hole in as few strokes as possible, and there are no points for style, or a requirement to look pretty while doing so. I am not claiming to be a teacher, nor are the suggestions or ideas expressed my own. My ideas, or opinions, and half a dollar likely wouldn't get you a coffee. Instead, the teaching found in this blog are gleaned from a study of the teachings of golf's great players, such as Bobby Jones, Moe Norman, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and Jack Nicklaus. The great players have provided wonderful insight into how the game should be played and how the club should be swung. I believe it is to them that we should look to unlock the secret to the game. Golf is my passion, a passion that was passed down to me by my father. I am a reasonably advanced player, who has shot as low as sixty five and still manages to give Old Man Par a run for his money if the putter cooperates, but I presume to teach no one. I am simply sharing what I've been taught. If anything I happen to share in this blog, or blogsite (I'm not really up to speed on the jargon) helps anyone gain a bit more enjoyment from the game, I will certainly be very pleased. However, at the end of the day, this writing is as much for me as anyone else. If you enjoy it, "Read on, McDuff." If you don't, you can feel free to follow the advice of my old Irish grandmother. When she served up one of her hearty meals, she would offer these words of Irish wisdom: "If you don't like it, you can turn your arse to it!"